Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Our first house


Many, many years ago, Brian and I bought out very first house.  

We weren't married yet - heck we weren't even engaged!  But we knew we wanted to live together and didn't want to waste money on rent and we were both committed to the fact that we were going to be together forever so, we took the plunge.

Our house was a little split level in my little farm  hometown and backed up to a farm  and the open space on one side.   

We had only intended on living there for about 5 years. 

We were there for 11 years.  Funny how that works!


Can you tell I am drawn to grey houses with red doors?  

This was the perfect starter house and by the time Brian and I were done with it, it was totally reconfigured.  I don't have the greatest pictures, in fact I JUST found these much to my delight! 


This is the back yard.  We installed that patio the summer after Sydney was born and planted those lelands at the back property line a year or so before that. 

The deck and pergola were there when we moved in.  I loved it but the deck was very small and the wisteria just tore that poor pergola up. 



The kitchen/dining area used to be two separate rooms.  We knocked out the wall to make a half wall, made the range hood and installed wood flooring.  The cabinets were awesome - custom made - so we didn't mess with them.  I always intended to change the counter tops but never got around to it.  The kitchen was very small but so cozy.  I wish I had more pictures.  The support beam in the ceiling was covered with a wood enclosure to look like an exposed beam and I loved it. 




Our family room was quite big.  Originally, it was a family room and really big laundry room.  I decided I didn't need a laundry room that big, so we - once again - knocked out the wall separating the two and installed a bar for entertaining and made a very small laundry room.

I love wainscotting and stained very stinking piece of it myself.  I love the warmness of wood...


This used to be part of the laundry room.

We threw a ton of parties down here. I miss my bar.  When we sold the house, the buyer told me that as soon as her husband came downstairs into the nice big family room with the bar, he looked at her and said "That's it.  This is the house."
I hear they are very happy there.


And finally, our bedroom.  Brian loves red and requested a red bedroom.  It was soooo cozy. 

No pictures of the girls rooms or the dining room (which I turned into a playroom for the girls)  I'm going to try and dig up more pictures.

I miss our little house, but that's exactly what it was  - little.  The girls barely had rooms - more like closets, there was no storage and the street was getting busy which meant I wasn't comfortable with the girls playing out front, walking to a friends house or riding their bikes. 

Our little house served us very well for a very long time and we put our heart and soul into it.  We moved in  as a couple and left as a family of four.  

And the mortgage payment was much nicer. Ha! 

2 comments:

Sara @ Russet Street Reno said...

I love when I find old pics of houses past - it's such a trip! We also didn't think we'd be in our current house that long, but we're going on 4 year already. Wow!

Armandina Skerl said...

The patio looks wonderful! It's refreshing to see the trees around and to enjoy a glass of lemonade under the sun. The dining area looks great with its chandelier. Overall, the changes in your home are way better now and you deserve it. Congratulations!